


In Sickness and In Health

by BD_Z



Series: Till Death Do Us Start [5]
Category: Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: Confessions, Date Rape Drug/Roofies, Exorcisms, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Revelations, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 09:34:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20207563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BD_Z/pseuds/BD_Z
Summary: Sometimes the unexpected can happen and one must turn to a loved one to find safety and comfort. Or you could just wallow in self-pity and hope for death.





	1. True to you -

**Author's Note:**

> Last warning, if you trigger that's on you. Victims of Assult, please be cautious and use this link to help you through trauma.  
https://www.helpguide.org/articles/ptsd-trauma/recovering-from-rape-and-sexual-trauma.htm

Death would not come. No matter how hard she cried for it and With every heave and cramp in her abdomen, Lydia could feel the tears building behind her stubborn eyelids. She refused to cry. No one was going to see her cry.

She didn’t even have the heart to call out BJ’s name. 

Shame filled her as she recalled the night's events. Looking for any course of action that could have spared her from this fate. Anything to tip her off that this was going to be the night that ruined her life. 

Rush parties were relatively tame for the most part, and her prickly and snarky personality often turned away the Greek brothers. Yet she was still cautious after that last attempt at hazing. She didn’t take any drinks that she did not get for herself; she knew better than to trust anyone. 

So how then did she end up dosed with GHB? How did she end up here in some strangers bathroom puking out her guts? 

The answer was only now so obvious. Claire Brewster got her revenge.

Somehow, and this is where her theory got murky, Claire got close enough to her and managed to slip it to her when her head was turned. 

Stupid. She should have suspected there was something wrong when Claire pushed her perfect little nose, surgically perfect in fact, into the heated debated Lydia engaged in with one of her pledge sisters.

A turning in her stomach caused her to heave again, but without much left in her stomach, she spewed bile tinged with.... ugh, streaks of blood. She must have popped a blood vessel in her throat from all the horking. 

Piecing together what happened after that well.... she didn’t know. What she did know was that she was violated and at that thought, her will lost the battle and tears streamed down her face.

No, she couldn’t call Beetlejuice. She couldn’t look him in the eye and tell him that he wasn’t going to be her first. After all the slow cajoling and romancing in their friendship, she had concluded that she could make the marriage work out after all. 

Weird, creepy, and childish perfectly described her husband, but he was hers. He was her monster. Her idiot and while she rested on the floor crumpled in a heap and hugging the porcelain throne of her misery, she realized that she would have done anything to erase this and return to the arms of her former demon.

Sobbing led to hiccups while she tried to fix herself up, cursing herself for wearing a dress. She could have worn pants, a jumpsuit. Anything to make the culprit hesitate just enough. To slow them down just enough for her mind to clear and call out to her husband. 

Go figure that right now he would be the last person she wanted to see. Which is why when she felt the tingle of a ghostly presence, she stiffened and prepared herself for humiliation.

“Oh, poor dear,” a soft feminine voice cooed. Lydia sobbed in relief.

“Ginger? La petite, c’est d’accord?” This voice came from outside the bathroom door. Soft and heavily accented and very much not her husband nor her rapist.

“Of course she’s not alright. Poor darlin’ just had the unimaginable happen.”

“I can hear you, you know?” Lydia managed to croak out the words through her strained vocal cords. “Ghosts.”

She could almost feel the surprise come off the spirit, but she hardly cared. She couldn’t give two shits about anyone at this point. 

“Oh sweetie, if only we could have stopped it.”

“What? Don’t know how to scare? No possession? The hell kind of ghosts are you anyway. Beetle... No. My ghost would have killed them all.”

A silence filled the space between to which Lydia figured meant that she caught the ghost by surprise again.

“what do you mean your ghost? We can’t attach to living... Wait, Beetle? You don’t mean?”

“Sacre bleu! She can’t mean?” came the outside male voice, but just before any of them could finish their thoughts. A third voice disrupted the conversation.

“Alright! Babes, don’t kill me. I know you said you wanted the night to yourself, but I haven’t been able to relax for two hours. My bones are itching like crazy and as much fun as it can be too gross people out, I fucking hate puking my own guts on the floor.... whoa...”

Beetlejuice paused his rant after his manifestation as he stared at the scene before him. Lydia wanted to crawl into a hole and wait for the scythe of death himself to strike her down. The humiliation was unbearable.

“Lyds.” He said softly.

“You! You are attached to this child?” Ginger cried out.

“Oh shut the fuck up, long legs.” Beetlejuice closed the distance between him and Lydia, kneeling beside her. ”Babes, Lyds.... honey.”

“Don’t,” Lydia near screamed when Beej touched her arm. “Go home, BJ. I’m fine.”

Lydia curled herself into a ball, abandoning her grip on the toilet seat. Too much. Too many sensations. 

And there go the fucking tears.

“Not a chance. Not till you tell me what happened.” 

Lydia shivered at the rumble of Beetlejuice’s voice. A tone she hadn’t heard in years. One that she remembered in her nightmares when she thought he was going to murder her family. Oh, gods... this too was her fault. Just like back then with the stupid exorcism, she was careless.

“God, you never change?! Jacques and I have been waiting for you for years to come back for us, and you leave with no answers. How dare you show up now! And look at this poor girl. Attached to a living person and you couldn’t even save her!”

Lydia turned her face to finally look at the ghost who yelled so freely at her husband. She was pretty. Young and dressed to kill, no pun intended. Lydia had never seen her before, and that was saying something knowing how many ghosts there were on the Greek streets.

Her face drained of all color while a wave of dizziness and nausea hit her again. This wasn’t a Greek house.

“First of all,” Beetlejuice stood up tall with his voice controlled and level. “Why is my wife in this dump? Second, who did this to her because Someone is going to die tonight.”

“Beej Don’t,” Lydia whispered, but no one heard her.

“Mom Dieu. Don’t you talk to my woman in such a tone.”

“Can it, Boney!” 

Lydia saw the bathroom door shift as a skinny, starved looking ghost walked through the wall. Lydia curled in further.

“What do you mean wife?” Ginger questioned. Poking a finger into BJ’s chest.

“Who are you calling Boney! Tête de noeud.”

“Alright you couple of Loony Toons, I’m gonna take care of the fuckers out there. If one of them dies, Take the next gate and get your asses back into the Neitherworld.”

“Beej,” Finally able to bring her voice up to an audible level. “Don’t.”

Beetlejuice turned his complete attention to her. He shifted his body so that he was kneeling in front of her, and even though she fought against it, he took her hands.

“Look at me!” He commanded, and she did. She met his furious gaze with no fear. Her swollen eyes were probably bloodshot, and the way BJ’s expressions shifted between anger, sadness, rage, regret, concern, and finally, determination. 

“I don’t want you to kill anyone.” She said softly. “This was my f-“

“Stop right there. Not your fault, and it’s too late. Someone is going to pay for this, and when I find which asshole is responsible, someone will need more than lifetime therapy.”

In an attempt to protest again, he held a finger over her lips and gestured wildly. 

Three independent heads poked into the door all just as angry as their original counterpart. The Beetlejuice clones waited for their orders.

“Ghost with the Most. Now let’s sit here and listen to the Beautiful Sounds.”

With that, the clones departed. Ginger and Jacques stood aghast at the scene of Beetlejuice being tender and not at all lecherous. This was so... out of character.

Lydia smiled up at her ghost, but as her lip quivered, he pulled her into his arms. She could no longer look at him, but the smell of the sweaty old musty creepo was familiar and warm. Safe.

Lydia broke down crying as the screams began. 

—

Beetlejuice was livid. He was hurt, sick and, even though none of this was Lydia’s fault, he felt betrayed. The curse of their marriage stunted his libido only to seek out this girl; this broken, gothic beauty who stole his heart and crushed it under the heel of her pointed shoes. He was a wreck and not even his other bodies could enjoy the torture they brought to the residents of this hell hole.

This house that had been empty for at least fifteen years, now that he realized where he manifested. He only searched out for Lydia. He wasn’t even looking where he was going, and now he regretted promising her a night alone.

He blamed himself.

The screams of pain and fear did nothing to soothe his soul. Nor did the sight of a scared shitless Brewster. Oh, he would have loved to enjoy the way she pissed herself, but he couldn’t find it in him to care. He wanted them to suffer to die, but the only death that ended up occurring was one he didn’t cause. No, it turns out another poor shmuck O.D.’d on whatever shit they had been shooting. 

It was enough to open a door. Boy, was he tempted to shove the breathers in there but the grip of Lydia’s hands on his jacket made him falter enough to bring all the Beetles in the house to a standstill. All of the clones pulled back to the reality at hand. 

His Babes needed him.

“Beej,” the tone near had him tearing what was left of his heart out. It was so soft, so innocent, and as Lydia spoke, he almost forgot the girl he first met on the roof of the Maitland joint. As ruthless as he knew her to be, she could never have been so cold-hearted as to maim, torture, or kill the fuckers who did this to her. 

“I’m here, Lydia. Back in one piece, come on.”

“Don’t take me back home.” Her eyes snapped up with pleading desperation that made him want to finish the job in the other room. Her shrieking didn't help much, either.

“I ain’t taking ya back to the ...”

“No. Not there either. I’m done with them.”

Now that scared him. He itched to argue that she put their relationship at risk for even taking the stupid pledge B.S. but... he looked at the way she curled her legs under her body and shied away from his concern. He could see bruises blossoming on her skin and knew the damage elsewhere would be much worse.

“Sssshhhhhit. Lucky I’m already dead, or the ‘rents will skin me alive for this.”

In the blink of an eye, they left the scene. Leaving only the evidence of her sickness. 


	2. - in good times and in bad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where do you take your lover when they don't want to go home? Who would understand the devastation of broke fidelity even if it was unintentional? Well, there is a place. A devious and diabolical world of lust and sin will turn out to be the best sanctuary for an innocent.

“Where are we?” 

Lydia’s voice echoed in the void of pitch-black nothing. Any other person might have found the feeling of floating with no direction with neither an up or down disturbing. No light, no gravitational pull and no scent other than that which came off BJ’s jacket.

“The veil, but we won’t be here much longer... ah. There we go.” 

Before this moment she would have thought there was nothing left to puke up but the lurch between weightless and gravity proved to be more than she expected.

Her feet touched a thick, almost ridiculously plush carpet, and when she looked around, she was overcome by the attack of bright colors. The carpet, the bedding, the wallpaper all screamed gaudy as fuck. A portrait of a nude demonic woman on the wall and mirrors in places no reasonable person would need.

She surprised herself by laughing through her tears and incredulously coming to conclusions that would indeed result in BJ’s metaphorical demise. This just couldn’t be real. 

Beetlejuice had yet to let go of her, but when he did, she found herself standing near a massive bathtub that looked like it belonged in a porno. Even more disturbing as it was in the context of the bedroom itself. She realized exactly what this place was when she saw the embroidery on the towels hanging over the edge of the bathtub. 

Dante’s. 

Throwing a startled and horrified face at Beetlejuice, he quickly took his hands off her and held them up in surrender. He didn't try to defend himself. Instead, He watched her like she would grow a second head if he looked away, which did more to increase her anxiety than put her at ease.

They both backed away from each other slowly yet it was Beetlejuice who broke the awkward silence with an unconvincing wince.

”No funny business, I swear. Scouts honor!”

”We nearly killed a scout.” 

Evidently, he chose to ignore her retort as he continued to back up to the door of whatever room they were in. Lydia looked out the window thinking a neon sign would prove her suspicions wrong, but the blue-green skin of an approaching woman peeked through the slats in the blinds serving only to annoy her. 

”Trust me, Babe. Just... Don’t go jumping to conclusions.”

Lydia narrowed her eyes but remained silent as he opened the door right before a single knock could be made.

”Hey! Miss Lucy. Kinda busy right now. Shouldn't you be teaching pole classes?”

Beetlejuice had his backed yo Lydia as he spoke to a seductively dressed yet mature looking woman. Her cleavage gave the impression that one sneak would liberate her breasts. Lydia horrified by the prospect blanched.

”You better not have one of my girls in here without negotiating with me first. I told you countless times...”

”That you expected me to pay for the room the second I arrived. Totally was about to go see ya.”

The woman waved a hand at Beetlejuice before shoving him aside. Much to the ghosts annoyance. That was when Lydia got a good look at Miss Lucy and she in return got a look at Lydia.

Invasive hardly covered the intense scrutiny and had she been in the mood to feel anything; she might have been insulted when the woman rolled her eyes and scoffed.

”Freelancers? Really? And this one looks too fresh. Barely even showing any signs of trauma. Youth these days. Killing themselves with those silly challenges.”

Beetlejuice jumped in between the woman and his bride. 

”Ah see that's where you got it wrong, Luce. Meet the Mrs.” BJ posed arms wide with a grin that normally melted Lydia on the spot.

Neither woman looked amused.

”Alright, I see how it is. Two minutes with the wifey and I’ll meet ya in the office. Oh, come on. Don’t give me that look. I'm good for it.”

”Good for nothing” muttered Miss Lucy but she acquiesced much to the couple's surprise though Lydia could feel the turn on her gut turn up a notch when she thought about how often Beetlejuice ended up here with other women. Her head went fuzzy for a moment which would have been nothing except it allowed her limbs to looks sensation. Gravity took hold.

”Whoa there,” Reaching out he grabbed Lydia before she could stumble back only to have his hand slapped hard. ”Oi. What was that for?”

”Did you seriously bring me to a whore house?!”

”No!” Be shouted, but his voice dropped to a sheepish level. ”Its a brothel.”

She stated at him with disbelief. Unable to fathom how he could justify bringing a recent rape victim into a place dedicated to the male fantasy.

”How can you be so stupid?’!”

Beetlejuice gripped her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. His puppy dog eyes and pout made her want to drown him in the oversized bathtub.

”It’s just Dantes. They know me here. Been renting this room for decades.”

A loud noise of disgust erupted from her, and at that moment, though she knew he was a sexual creature before they met, his words filled her with an encompassing sense of disillusionment. Gravity won out as she slowly settled onto the ground. 

”Awe honey, ya know I'm loyal to ya and it ain't cuz of the vows. BFFs forever, remember? You can’t get that kinda bondage at a brothel. Trust me; they do kink, not feels.”

Despite herself, his terrible phrasing elicited a derisive snort.

”See there ya go. Now, let's get ya into this tub. Clean ya up. Then we can get all cozy after I go settle with Luce.”

”What are you gonna do? Sell your soul?”

”Mine? Nah. Sold that years ago and I ain’t got much in collateral. I lost my mind, and my Heart’s already been claimed.”

She tilted her chin up to look at her idiot ghost, but without a single idea on what to say, she remained silent. Impassive as she watched as BJ retreated out the door. 

She was alone. Utterly alone.

\---

Beetlejuice still wanted to hurl, but he kept it together long enough to get out of the room that he had been known to rent between haunts. They didn't even bother using it for clients anymore. Not with how unpredictable his entrances could be and Luce, being the smart businesswoman she was, placed a notification system in that room to alert her of his arrival.

At least he knew Lyds would be safe here. The women in this joint might be whores, but they respected each other. They looked out for their clients and guests too.

Even if the ’rents and golden couple discovered where Lydia ended up, he could save face knowing he took her to a relatively safe place... You know... As far as dead hookers go.

The walk to the Madams office felt like a walk to a prison matrons room, ready to be disciplined with eternal punishment. At least, in this case, she could tell him why he felt like death.

He didn't like the way she smirked at him when he entered the office. 

”The notorious Beetlejuice. Married.” she shook her head of red hair as her curls bobbed with each movement. ”You know, I have heard that you took up residence in the land of the living. What brings you back? I hope you didn't think a whorehouse would be a lovely honeymoon location. NOT that I wouldn't put it passed you.”

”My wife was raped, and I'm sick as a dog.” To hell with the small talk. He didn't have the time for a game of cat and mouse with this clever woman.

”Lydia doesn't want me touchin’ her, and I can’t take her home. Tell me what I owe ya so I can get back to her and figure out how to fix this.”

Softly humming a with understanding, Luce rested her head in a hand, propping herself up as she considered the ghost who sat across from her.

”So you performed the ceremony. Both said I Do. Which means you officially married the girl. Did you live? Because Darlin’, I hate to say this, but you are looking a little too dead.”

“She killed me two minutes later” He shrugged it off.

Miss Lucy barked out a full and resonating laugh and continued to do so as BJ glared at her.

“I like her already. Do you know how many girls would give up a limb to kill you? And since you are still here, I can only surmise that you both went into it willingly. Did the girl know she had an affection for you?”

“Hell no! I cheated, lied, and manipulated her cute little underage ass.”

“But you didn’t consummate.” Lucy only grew more amused by BJ’s discomfort. 

“She was a kid. I’m a creep, but I’m not a sicko. I was chasin’ Maitland ass, you know I love a good orgy, but Lyds is special. My best friend. She gets me.” Beetlejuice finally gave up on hiding his misery and rested his head and upper body on Miss Lucy’s desk. “This fucking marriage did something to us. Can’t think about anyone else and ... and..”

“You want her.” The woman concluded.

“Crazy, isn’t it? Ghost with the Most brought to his knees by a little morbid death loving kid. Don’t fucking laugh again. I feel like I’m being exorcised from the inside.”

“You are.” Lucy stood up from her desk and headed to her office door and locked it. When she returned to her desk, she picked up her phone, dialed two numbers before telling some chick to check on Lydia. Beetlejuice attempted to protest the instruction to do an exam but the sharp look Lucy shot him, silenced him on the spot.

“Yes, Beetlejuice. You are indeed being exorcised. Your wife broke the fidelity clause and denied you your conjugal rights. Now you have a choice to make. You knew the consequence when you chose to marry a mortal. If you still have any affection for the girl, then you may not like it. “

Cold dread flowed through his veins, but he listened, waited for any cure for the unintentional infidelity. If anyone knew the answers, it would be Miss Lucy. There were stories behind the curtains of Dante’s Inferno Room.

“If you don’t want to cease to exist, you have two options. Annulment or Consummation.”

She was right. He didn’t like it.

“Consummation. Fuck. I can’t do that to her! It’s Lyds. She... I... No. I’m not gonna force her into that. What’s the Annulment bit? Do we, what, kiss and say goodbye? Be on our merry unmarried way?”

The madam averted her eyes from his as she spoke. “The unfaithful will die and become an instant resident of the lost soul's room.”

Beetlejuice jumped from his seat and thrashed around the room, throwing a tantrum much more violent than any he had for a long while. 

“This is bullshit! Why does she get Punished? I forced her into this! She’s just a kid. Innocent. She didn’t deserve this. I don’t deserve her! I ... I... I can't let this happen.”

Pacing around, Beetlejuice punched a hole in the door before grabbing the doorknob. 

“You are bound to her, Beetlejuice. Since you managed to keep this marriage contract after your mortal death, it would appear you two have a kinship. A bond. It’s what connected you two before the ceremony. We don’t know who we are destined for nor do the powers beyond the veil. It is possible that your souls have matched beyond this universe, but we are not guaranteed a happily ever after. You knew this. Death comes for us all. Even the dead can die.”

“Well, then. I'm doomed. It was nice knowing ya, Sweetcheeks, I’m gonna go spend what’s left of my existence with my wife.”

“Beetle-“

But he had closed the door was a resounding crash. 

—-

A gentle knock disturbed Lydia as she slowly began to fill the massive bathtub. Fearing it was BJ, she ran to the door to hold it closed with one hand on the knob. She waited in silence for another knock.

“Hello, anyone in there? Miss Lucy sent me to check on you.” 

Lydia yanked the door open ready to tell off the female ghost who stood beyond the door. But as the words began to bubble up, the woman roughly shoved the door aside, nearly knocking Lydia to the ground.

“No chance at scaring me away. Beetle has been a handful for years and no matter who he chooses to spend time with, we are a lot more powerful than we look. Now, hello. You must be Lydia.”

“Who the hell are you?” Lydia retorted with a snarl.

“Huh... figures. He has always had a taste for the aggressive ones.” The blue-skinned woman waltzed into the room dressed in nothing more than lingerie. Lydia scoffed. 

”How would you know that? Were you one of his ... ”

“Miss Lucy Fur is our madam here at Dantes, and I’m no one you need to concern yourself with now if you would please strip down so I can assess the damage.”

“Wait. What?!” Lydia attempted to back away but found herself unable to move on her own accord. Her hands began undressing without permission. One look at the ghost left no question as to whether she had a choice. Lydia was being possessed.

“Sit over there,” she pointed to a wall that opened up to reveal a very clinical looking bench to which her involuntary body crossed the room to sit on and eventually laid out like she was at the gynecologist Delia made her visit.

“There, now breath. Just because you are in the land of the dead doesn’t mean you can stop breathing. Not until he makes a choice.”

“Who? What choice and what..... ow!”

Lydia closed her eyes as the female ghost poked and prodded her body. She invaded but maintained a touch that was gentle and efficient. Before she knew it, the woman was done, and she was sitting up.

“Into the bath. Now.” 

Lydia didn’t need to be possessed to obey this time. She ran for the tub and climbed in covering her body with her arms. 

“Take it from me, little girl. You got lucky. It looks like it was only one person and he wasn’t big enough to do much damage. The intoxication helped your muscles relax just enough not to damage more than was already destroyed.”

“How! How is that lucky? What did you do to me?!”

“Only what was asked of me.” The woman went to a cabinet that manifested along with the exam table and pulled out bottles of various shape and color. “Did you think you were the first breather in this joint? Sorry, cutie but we have had more necromancers and witches floating down here for a good time than you could possibly even imagine.”

She began pouring different solutions into the water. Glowing and bubbling, Lydia could feel her anxiety increase but one stern look from the demonic-looking stripper, if that’s what she was, stopped her.

Soon, however, the water began to soothe her skin and calm her nerves.

“What....”

“Hush.”

“But...”

“Look, I’m here to do my job, and part of that is making sure you survive this process.”

This gave Lydia pause. The worst was over, wasn’t it? The drug was out of her system by now, right? 

She didn’t get the chance to really ponder the woman’s words because the bedroom door opened again. This time it was BJ, and he looked like shit.

“Out.” He said as he stared at the woman.

“I’m almost done.”

“I said out.” He growled again. Lydia jumped back as the woman poured the last vial into the water with very little care before turning away and shoving the empty vial into BJ’s chest. The moment she slammed the door, the disturbing set up vanished along with her. The place was back to looking like a porno set.

“Beetlejuice?” Lydia could feel the strain in her voice loosen up, but she dared not speak louder. 

“Babes, I’m sorry I got ya into this mess.”

“You know this wasn’t your fault, right? I should have let you come. I could have prevented this whole thing if I just said...”

“I’m talking about the wedding. The whole being married thing. I ruined your life Lyds.” Beetlejuice nearly threw himself down beside the bathtub while Lydia sank lower. She was feeling much better but BJ, well, he looked even more dead than before.

Lydia shifted herself to the edge of the tub and rested her head next to his. Both of them sat there in silence with Beetlejuice trying to keep his eyes averted while he sat with his back against the tub. Lydia tried to get comfortable and as close as possible to him. She reached her wet arms out of the water and wrapped them around his shoulders, taking him by surprise.

With a turn of his head, he was yet again thrown off by the gentle kiss she placed in his cheek.

“Thank you.” She whispered. “For admitting you are a dumbass.”

“Gee What would I do without ya?” His sardonic grin, though lacking in real animosity, earned him another kiss.

“You’d probably find another suicidal teen to manipulate but... would she have the guts to kill you with bad art?” Lydia moved one arm, sliding her hand into the collar of his shirt. Beetlejuice only raised an eyebrow at her gentle yet experimental touch.

“Nah, the good ones are hard to find.” 

They both chuckled at that, albeit weakly and with very little enthusiasm.

“Beetlejuice,” She spoke into his ear giving it a playful nip.

He rested his head against the tub, leaning back, exposing his neck. Lydia curled her fingers and caressed his pale and discolored throat. She felt her lips curl in amusement at the way his moan stuck in his throat.

“Lydia?” He asked, his eye-popping open to

Look at her. She had moved and was now on her knees inside the bathtub behind him and looking down. A perfect place to kiss his forehead.

“Beetlejuice.” She replied, still looking like a cat with a canary.

When she pressed her lips on his forehead, she felt him pull away. Startled, she didn’t seem to care that he was looking at her, kneeling, half out of the water like a spooky little mermaid. She knew he was getting an eyeful because she watched as his eye darted all over in an attempt not to stare at her chest.

His eyes fell to the water, narrowed and angry. “Get out.” He said flatly, and when she hesitated, he said it again. Louder.

Lydia jumped up and out of the soapy suds. Gloriously nude and soaking wet. 

As the liquid dripped off her, she could feel the embarrassment and pain return. Quickly, she ran to the nearest stack of towels and covered herself.

“What the hell was that?!” Lydia screeched no longer caught up in the euphoria of her rise in libido. 

“Fuckin’ slick demon bitch.” He muttered to himself as he juiced the plug to drain. Lydia hadn’t seen him look both this angry and this sick. It worried her.

“Beetle!”

Looking up and cracking a sheepish yet slightly lecherous grin, he flicked his wrist dressing Lydia in a nightgown while simultaneously drying her off.

“Not feeling so cuddly now, huh? It’s ok. I get it. That shit is potent on the living.”

Lydia scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest and was about to tell him off for bringing her to this place, to tell him what that woman did to her, but the gaunt look on his face and sad attempts at perversion stopped her.

“Beetlejuice, what’s wrong?” 

Dread filled her, leaving her feeling like she had jumped into an ice bath rather than the warmth that enveloped her just a few minutes prior. Lydia, apprehensive, approached him.

“Talk to me.” She spoke gently when in close enough proximity to touch his arm. She did.

“Aw Babe, you can’t do that to me right now.”

“Why not?”

He sighed and moved away from her touch. He sat down heavily at the edge of the overtly ostentatious bed. Lydia followed.

“You are not gonna let me wallow in my misery, are you?” BJ asked in resignation the moment she took her spot next to him and rested her head on his shoulder. 

“Nah, I think we wallowed enough for both of us. I don’t know what was in that bath, but the sickness is gone. I don’t feel so.....”

“Gross?”

“Well yeah. But you look terrible.”

“Shucks. Didn’t think you’d notice. All the work I put into my good looks for ya and all...” He chuckled weakly.

“Cut the crap, Beetlejuice and tell me what is happening.”

Shaking his head, he lifted his arm and wrapped her up in a hug, but Lydia had a better idea. Pushing him away, she crawled up onto the bed and held her hand out to him. He took the invitation with little more emotion than a man walking to the gallows. However, he did not refuse the offer to lay beside her while her petite body curled into his embrace.

“Till Death do we Start, Beej. Even if I never acted like it, we are married and as gross and disgusting as you can be, I care about you.” She breathed in his current scent and chucked. “You don't smell as bad as you used to by the way.”

“Gee thanks, Lydia.” He scoffed before wrapping his arms around her tighter. Lydia could almost feel his despair.

Lydia pressed a kiss against his clothed chest before nuzzling under his chin affectionately. He groaned in response.

“Beej.” She waited for his grunt in reply. “You are not groping me.”

“Tryin’ this new thing called respect. Ever heard of it?”

“I’m surprised you have.” 

He did not elaborate any further, which only made Lydia feel uncomfortable. Here she was, in the arms of the only person she could trust, and he acted like he hardly knew her. She knew something was wrong but now, she wasn’t so sure it was because he was feeling sick.

Insecurity began to slip past the walls she attempted to place in her mind. BJ never missed a chance to cop a feel and with her willingly laying in his arms, snuggling without the potential of being walked in on.... he should be taking advantage of the moment. Pushing his chances like he always did.

Yet here he was. Laying beside her like a corpse in a coffin rather than the loud ghost she had fallen in love with... Lydia’s eyes snapped open at the invasive thought.

She moved her head from under his chin and stared into his sleepy yet startled face. He made no comment, and neither did she as she let her eyes travel along his jawline, his cheeks, and then to his eyes. Eyes so deep and full of loneliness that slowly had turned warm with affection for her since her eighteenth birthday.

Lydia smiled at him then lifted her body enough to press a gentle, petal-soft kiss against his lips.

She knew at that moment from this day forward, Beetlejuice was hers, for better or worse, in sickness and in health. They were bound together. 


End file.
